Haciendas de los Alamos

This project is on 2.19 acres of land, located in the Traditional Historic District of Agua Fria in the west part of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It began as a residential offshoot of the San Isidro Church, which was the focal point of this community more than 100 years ago and still stands.  There was much agrarian activity in the area as land was divided by families into long narrow strips, off of the Camino Real Trail and irrigated by waters off of the then running Santa Fe River by way of “acequias”.  As reservoirs were created upstream, the water stopped flowing and sand and gravel companies began to mine the Santa Fe River, causing irreparable erosion along the banks. As years passed, the area transformed into an arts and crafts community and businesses were established to furnish supplies to people traveling to Mexico.

The original unit on the property, owned by one family, was eventually subdivided to provide shelter for three sons and their families. As was often the case with regional families, there were additions and connectors as the needs arose, ultimately ending up with a 6000 square foot structure. As more time passed, the building served as a speakeasy, a brothel, a refuge for the homeless and the home for the School of Chinese Medicine. A caretaker casita was built on site and a used car office was brought in by trailer to serve as a clinic. Ms Gaynl Keefe purchased the educationally zoned facility after several years of being vacant.

The general vision was to restore the property and land to the extension of the village feeling it once was, by introducing community planting pods, providing affordable housing to artists and craftspeople, giving the local community a venue to gather and enjoy some pedestrian open space refuge and to support the Santa Fe economic vision of promoting its pool of artistic talent through education, seminars, workshops and displays.

These would be implemented along with the design goals of providing a community feeling through non-cookie cutter building design that would emphasize low density, open space, non-invasive discreet parking and the use of green technologies and sustainable techniques. Designs borrowed from pitched roof Northern New Mexico arts and crafts vernaculars, coupled with detailed wrought iron treatments, rich textures and landscaping that afforded privacy and natural cooling.

The community-at-large received the project warmly as a welcome addition to the immediate neighborhood environment.

Sometimes the best way to control costs, quality and construction methods is to ponder most often requested market demands and preconceive ideas. This is a vast departure from the normal part of the design process, whereby you sit face to face with a person, hear what is important to have in a home or business and have an idea evolve with frequent feedback. This approach focuses cost constraints in a challenging economy, downsizing, leaving opportunities open for green and sustainable technologies and taking full advantage of what sites of different terrains have to offer.

For example, developing a structure that is compact and dimensionally modular allows for a less expensive project because of less waste of materials. This also makes a home more flexible to add to or subtract from so you don’t limit options by closing off circulation patterns. Simplicity of structure also lends to a wide variety of stylistic preferences.

Since these are preconceived plans and it is nearly impossible to satisfy everybody’s domestic needs with a single concept, they can be offered and altered at a lower cost. While some prefer a custom design, certainly some of these elements can be considered in planning a new home or remodel.